1-1 Premeier Issue FINAL PROOF.pdf Holiday 2013 | Page 28

FAMILY H by John

Wells

The Familiar Faces at Rehoboth Farms

Hope, Jingle, Charity, Noble

I

t began, as it often does, with goats. And
as such things lead to others, it ended up
in Hollywood, with several Pittsboro native Great Pyrenees puppies— bred by locals
David and Jessica Battlestein, Chatham-ites
of nearly a decade— starring in a Disney
film, “Santa Paws 2.” The pups were chosen
for their pristine snow-white winter coats
and, according to the film, their lovely singing voices. Remarkably, however, breeding
movie-star puppies is just one of many fascinating things about the Battlesteins; their lives
have taken them much farther than LA, and
for wonderful reasons.

Jessica grew up in San Francisco,
starting out as a big city daughter of a country gal. Her mother grew up on a large farm
and instilled within Jessica a longing for small
town farm life, despite her urban upbringing.
Sixteen years ago she met a kindred spirit in
David, another metropolitan denizen, this
time of Houston, Texas, and a year later they
were married. Shortly thereafter they moved
to North Carolina so that David could pursue
his vocation in ministry served, in fact, as a
pastor here for several years.

As children first became a part of
their lives twelve years ago—the Battlesteins

now have five, ages 2-12—they realized a
more present need for specific and sustainable nutrition. As with so many Chatham
residents, the availability and viability of
mainstream food resources became a concern, especially as they began to recognize
food allergies within their family. Eventually,
they imagined, they’d build a farm of their
own— which Jessica had wanted since childhood— with land enough to allow them to
produce milk, keep chickens for eggs, and to
cultivate a family garden. Therefore, in a decision evincing intrepid ambition and ingenuity, build a farm is exactly what they did, ergo
the adoption of two pregnant goats four years
ago, the first wooly inhabitants of Rehoboth
Farms in its infancy, just outside of Pittsboro.

Goats, however, curious and rambunctious as they are, especially in their
youth, need a caretaker. Opportunistic coyotes, foxes, and even raccoons need to be dissuaded from harassing goat kids. So on advice
from a good friend, the decision was made to
take on a Great Pyrenees named Debra who
would act as sentinel, increasing the assets of
their burgeoning farm in the amount of one
giant dog and, presumably, oodles and oodles
of fluffy white love.

28

more a